We relocated to Sweden from the US in 2021 after my wife was offered a relocation package. In Los Angeles, we were paying $1,000 a month for preschool, but in Sweden, it was only $100. However, we soon realized that the school pacing was slow, and our daughter wasn’t being challenged enough.
When my wife received a relocation package to Sweden in 2021, it felt like a stroke of luck for our family. Like many American families during the COVID-19 lockdown, we had developed an idealized view of Scandinavia, particularly Sweden. Countless articles portrayed it as a utopia with happy people, stunning landscapes, and exceptional schools.
We dreamed of a place where children could learn at their own pace, financial burdens were scarce, and active-shooter drills were nonexistent. But after two years in Sweden, our perspective began to shift from the “grass is greener” mentality as we realized that Sweden’s famously slow pace was not suitable for our child.
Our 5-year-old daughter was in the middle of online kindergarten when we were offered the opportunity to move to Gothenburg, Sweden, without even seeing the place. Since primary school starts at age 6 in Sweden, we enrolled her in a preschool program to help her integrate. As newcomers, we were informed that we would have to pay the maximum fee, which was about $100 per month for full-time care, including meals. This was a significant improvement compared to the $1,000 we had been paying in Los Angeles.
Similar to Denmark, Sweden provides generous subsidies to families. Even after enrolling our daughter in primary school, we continued to pay the $100 fee for an after-school program, where she improved her language skills and developed a taste for Swedish cuisine (although she couldn’t appreciate fish pudding). While our corporate incomes allowed us to afford the $100 fee, Swedish childcare subsidies can eliminate costs entirely for families in lower income brackets, ensuring that everyone receives the support they need.
In addition to affordable childcare, Sweden’s government provides a monthly parental stipend of around $110 and ensures that parents can stay home with sick children without losing wages. These measures greatly contribute to parental stability.
To integrate into Swedish society, we decided to enroll our daughter in a suburban public school rather than a private international one. We expected some overlap in math and science but believed it would help her develop her Swedish language skills. However, we discovered that Sweden’s public education system, known for its slow pace, prioritizes socialization and play in the early years, reminiscent of Waldorf and Montessori learning. This came as a surprise, considering our daughter had excelled in math and science in her private preschool in Los Angeles.
We worried that our daughter would regress and forget the core subjects she had excelled in, hoping things would progress in the second year. Unfortunately, they didn’t. The curriculum focused on social studies and basic math, with little attention given to science or more advanced math. As a result, our daughter began complaining about the lack of challenges.
We observed a clash between progressive adaptability and adherence to traditional practices within the Swedish education system. Classes would often halt progress to ensure that everyone was on the same page, which might explain the limited advancement in subjects like mathematics. While this approach is commendably progressive, it can be jarring for outsiders, as Sweden and its schools strictly adhere to certain traditions. For example, our school regularly organized trips to local churches despite Sweden’s predominantly secular society.
At the age of 8, our daughter could memorize Swedish pop songs, identify local birds, and even recite the seven-day creationism story, but she struggled with simple division and lacked knowledge of science. When we expressed our concerns to the teachers, we were met with a dismissive response: “This is how we do things here.”
Eventually, we had to make a decision between trusting the Swedish system or returning to the US to prevent our daughter from falling too far behind. We chose the latter, acknowledging that while Sweden provides extensive support for families to thrive, it expects conformity and discourages raising concerns.
For many, the Swedish education system works well, but for us, we realized that the grass isn’t always greener on the other side. The system we had left behind in the US, despite its flaws, offered greater opportunities for our family.
Original article: https://www.insider.com/us-family-moved-to-sweden-left-school-system-2022-10
